


CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS: QUARTER FINALS

by ABOOK5117



Category: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Spectacular Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-28 23:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17192024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABOOK5117/pseuds/ABOOK5117
Summary: The Secret War between the Avengers and Thunderbolts reaches it's apex within the Quarter Finals of the Contest of Champions tournament. Both teams of suffered great losses, and both grow more desperate to win. And it is here that both team's armored leaders, Tony Stark and Norman Osborn, meet head to head. And while Tony managed to find out that the battle stations are rigged and came up with plans to avoid them, Norman has proven long ago that he is anything but predictable. Either way, before this stage of the tournament is done, who will gain the upper hand?





	1. Chapter 1

** DISCLAIMER: CHARACTERS FROM SHOWS SUCH AS THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, DEVELOPED BY GREG WEISMAN AND VICTOR COOK, AND AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES, DEVELOPED BY CIRO NEELI, JOSHUA FINE AND CHRISTOPHER YOST, ARE BOTH COPYRIGHT PROPERTY OF MARVEL COMICS ENTERTAINMENT. THEREFORE, THE PURPOSE OF THIS FAN MADE STORY IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NO PROFIT IS BEING MADE FROM IT WHATSOEVER. IN OTHER WORDS....PLEASE DON'T SUE. **

**QUARTER FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. SURGE**

The place of battle for the first match of the Quarter Finals was that of the United States, more specifically, New York Times Square, where people have gathered around as if they were about to celebrate New Year's Eve, and were all standing behind energy ropes that formed a twenty foot wide circle at the square with two teleportation pads set up in the center. Not to mention some police officers, all stationed there by Captain George Stacy himself to prevent any fans that dumb enough to try and get past the ropes and run into the battle station. Suddenly, two flashes of light appeared above the pads, and sure enough, both Spidey and Surge arrive at the scene, causing the people to go wild.

Something that surprised Spidey greatly as he looked around his surroundings. _"We're still in New York?!"_ thought the stunned Web-Head, for while he knew that Time Squares was one of the places that Tony looked up for traps, he never expected that he would be the one to fight here. He then looked at the crowd, from the the cheering Avengers fans and the booing Thunderbolts fans. Sadly, it was the hatred and hackling form the people who adored the Thunderbolts that the disheartened Wall-Crawler was all too familiar with, because thanks to the influence of his boss at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson, he was seen as a menace rather than a hero who puts his life on the line saving the city and it's people. _"Well, its nice to know that at the very least, HALF of the city doesn't hate my guts, most likely that I'm fighting with the Avengers."_ As he continued to look around, he then spotted his opponent, Surge, who by this time was still angry and covered with electric streaks, all which worried the Web-Slinger. _"Still, whether they like me or not, these people are watching me fight Lightning Butt here, who not only wants to zap me, but he also might shock these spectators whether he means to or not. True, they may be at a safe distance thanks to these laser ropes, but if there's one thing I've learned from all the times of fighting my favorite unhinged living lightning bolt is that's always full of surprises. The kind that always put people at risk. Which means, for the sake of everyone here, I'll have to end this quick...all while trying not to get_ _fried"."_ Suddenly, through the corner of his left eye, Spidey caught a glimpse of a man dressed black and holding a television camera on his shoulder, which caused the Web-Head to let out an annoyed sigh, as he knew that a certain flat topped, cigar smoking, short tempered editor watching the tournament. _"And I just got reminded of somebody who may not be as bad as Osborn, but like him, would love to see me electrocuted into a charred husk."_

Meanwhile, back inside the editor's office of the Daily Bugle, Jonah, along with Robbie and the rest of his staff, were watching Spidey and Surge's arrival at Times Square on TV, with Jonah's having a wide and almost sinister grin on his face. "All right," said the gleeful editor. "We'll see if Dillon can finally squash that Wall-Crawling menace!"

It was here that the worried Robbie spoke up. "Jonah, I'm hoping you're not forgetting that that's-"

"I know who it is, Robbie!" Jonah chimed in irritably. "And yes, I think that walking light bulb is dangerous, but at least Osborn's keeping him under control. Now let me watch this match and see that little web-spewing puke get zapped like the bug that he is!"

Robbie only sighed and shook his head in disappointment, knowing that at this point, it was pointless to argue with his longtime boss and friend. As such, he went back to watching the match, and silently prayed for Spidey to come out of this a winner, as well as not more injured than he already is.

Back in Times Square, the Ref Bot is seen just arrived right in between Spidey and Surge, performing its usual protocol of showing the announcer's face and making sure that both combatants understood the rules. After receiving a quick nod from Spidey, and a small nod from Surge, who still had his eyes glued to his web-slinging opponent, the announcer knew right away that it was time to get the Quarter Finals underway. "All righty then, let's get this show on the road!" said the announcer in a excitable tone, then mentally commanded the Ref Bot to fly up high in to the air so he can start the match. "AND BEGIN!"

Upon hearing those words, Spidey soon got into a readied stance. "Well, I hope you had your fun while it lasted, Max. Because it stops now, as well as whatever crazy plan Goblin has!"

Surge did not feel the least bit threatened by the Web-Head's words, nor did he took kindly to calling him by his real name, or at the least the name he went by when he was nothing but a 'weak human.' "Web-Head," he growled angrily as streaks of electricity surrounded his body. "The only thing stopping here...is you!" With that declaration, Surge channeled his energy into his right hand, then held it up and fired a lightning bolt from out of his palm, with the Wall-Crawler being the target.

Luckily for Spidey though, he saw this and thus jumped over to the right side to dodge it.

However, though he missed the nimble Web-Head, Surge refused to let this stop him. And thanks to the nano-tech circuitry in his mask, Surge mentally commanded his lighting bolt to pull up and stop in mid-air, causing it to revert to a ball of energy. Once he saw Spidey land safely on his feet, Surge sent out a mental command to the electric ball to transform back into a hissing electric snake and speed down to the right and straight towards the Wall-Crawler, aiming for the red spider symbol on his back.

But thanks to his spider-sense, Spidey cartwheeled to the left side to avoid the snake, which was just about to hit the ground instead.

However, even with that attack avoided, Surge saved the snake construct from hitting the pavement by pointing his left finger up, and thus directed the snake to go up into the air and once again where it floated in the sky and curling his head back like it's about to strike. Something that made the electricity controlling Thunderbolt chuckle as he looked up at the now floating ball up in the sky. "Well," said Surge with sadistic glee. "Osborn wasn't kidding about the suit giving me better control of my electricity." Surge then look straight forward and set his sights on Spidey, who by now was still standing in a defensive posture. "Gotta remember to thank him after I fry your sorry butt!" With that said, Surge held up his open right hand and fired another electric snake construct, one which headed towards the Wall-Crawler's belt buckle.

Spidey easily spotted this and thus jumped and flipped right over the electric snake, saving his belt buckle and keeping himself in the match.

Unfortunately, though it failed in hitting Spidey, the electric snake ended up hitting something else: the base of a traffic light post on the left side of the electric roped made ring. Upon striking it's base, the post soon tilted to the right, and before long, it began to fall straight towards the scared spectators below. Though two officers tried their best to lead some people away from it, there were still those who were to frozen with fear to move and were sure to be crushed.

That is until Spidey heard the screaming, and as he turned to look over his right shoulder, he saw the post falling. _"Oh no!"_ he thought, then spun around, shot two web-lines out of his wrists, and once the lines hit and stuck to the shaft of the post, he yanked hard on his end and away from the still mortified pedestrians, saving them from being crush. As for the post itself, it landed right in front of Spidey's feet, and as the Ref Bot floated right in front of Surge to admonish him for the careless way he fired his blast, the Wall-Crawler himself was more scared than ever when it came to the safety of the people watching this match. _"Well, now that Max just confirmed my 'full of surprises that kill people' theory, I better wrap this up now!"_ thought the concerned Web-Head, then took a deep breath to calm himself. _"Come on, keep a cool head, Spidey. After all, you and Tony hatched a couple of plans on how to beat Electro back at the mansion, so go with the first one...which is having Electro make that electric snake thingie again. And as you found out earlier, that shouldn't be too hard."_ Suddenly, the Web-Head's thoughts are interrupted when he felt his spider-sense once again, prompting him to quickly jump down into a crouching position. As always, his sixth sense for danger served him well, as he narrowly avoided getting hit in the back of the head by Surge, who jumped in and swung a hammer construct on his right hand. While still crouching down, the distressed Web-Slinger watched Surge stop himself and turn around to face him. _"Staying alive on the other hand!"_

Surge, now seething with how Spidey once again dodged his attack, quickly changed the hammer into that of a serpent's head, then thrusts it downward to make it shoot out of his hand and straight towards his crouching opponent's belt buckle.

As before, Spidey quickly jumped up and flipped over the serpent, causing Surge to save the construct by mentally commanding it to pull itself up into the air. Moments later, the Web-Head landed just two feet away from the electricity spewing Thunderbolt, which served as the second part of the 'game plan.'

However, while Surge may have followed the 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality, he wasn't completely stupid. He had an idea of what Spidey was planning, but he decided to play along for the sake of giving his wall-crawling enemy a surprise. As such, he mentally commanded the serpent to spin around and zoom downward, with the target being the Web-Head's back once again.

Spidey, on the other hand, just waited for his spider-sense to alert him once again, and once he felt it tingle, he jumped up and flipped backward over the serpent, causing it to head towards Surge's belt buckle. A tactic that was not unlike the one Iron Man used to win his match against Titanium Man.

Unfortunately, this was something that Surge expected, and thus held both of his hands in front of his buckle and allowed the serpent to make contact with both of his palms. Strangely enough, instead of sending the Thunderbolt flying over the ring ropes into one of the large TV's above a nearby building, Surge displayed another ability that his suit grants him, in that he actually absorbs the construct through his hands! Once he consumed the construct completely, electric streaks once again ran through his body, and as he let out a loud roar, the added electricity destroyed his mask, and thus showed the world the glowing yellow, sparky headed face of Electro.

Needless to say, everyone in the area were surprised upon seeing Electro's new ability first hand, especially Spidey, who upon landing on his feet watched his opponent absorb the snake construct in disbelief. _"Okay, so much for Plan A,"_ thought the stunned Web-Head, then looked through the corner of his left eye and spotted what was the most important part of the second plan. One that could be used if any part of his suit exposed his electric body, and was now perfect since Electro had his mask off . It was a fire hydrant that was located on the far left side, one which was not only located in the inside of the energy roped made circle, but was near an empty corner, with no bystanders around that would get . the Web-Head turned his attention back to Surge and got in a readied stance. _"Plan B it is."_

With the construct now back in his body, Electro faced front and narrowed his eyes at the ready and waiting Spidey. However, just before the unmasked villain could charge up another blast, he is alerted by what appeared to be sparking sounds coming from the right side. Curious, he turned to the direction of where the sound was coming from, and sure enough, he saw electricity sparking out of the opening of the now broken traffic light post that he destroyed earlier. It was a sight that actually made Electro grin maniacally, as it gave him an idea on how get himself 'fully charged.'

Spidey was naturally confused as to why Electro was looking away from him, and as he turned and looked at the same direction that his opponent was looking, his eyes grew large when he saw the broken post, and more importantly, the electricity spewing from it. Though Spidey was glad to see that the nearby officers got the spectators away from that area, he knew that they, along with everyone else in the city were still in danger, for if Electro could absorb his own electric snake, he could do the same to the electricity sparking from the post, and make him stronger than before.

A fearful scenario to which Electro would be happy to make real, and not wasting any more time, began to run towards the post.

However, allowing Surge to become stronger and more harder to beat was the last thing Spidey had in mind. As he showed by jumping up into the air, then pointed his left hand downward to the right and shot webbing out of his wrist which not only hits the top of the post, but also covered the entire opening upon contact. Afterwards, Spidey quickly turned to look down at the befuddled Electro to turn and look at him, then pointed both of his hands down at the villain and shot more webbing which made a large net that completely covered Electro causing him to struggle violently in getting it off of him. After landing right in front of the post, Spidey set his sights on his old foe, then pointed both hands forward and shot two web-lines, which ended up hitting the ground, and more importantly near the sides of the netted up Electro's feet. From here, the Web-Head made his attack by jumping up and pulling hard on his end of the lines, propelling himself straight towards Electro and as he got close enough, kicked both of his feet forward, intending to mule kick the villain's chest and send him flying into the fire hydrant and cause him to short out.

Sadly for the Web-Head, getting entangled in web caused him to let out and rage filled scream, and the electricity he emitted from his body actually dissolved the webbing. He also noticed Spidey coming his way, and thus focused his energy into his right, created a large, wide human hand construct and actually swatted Spidey once he got close, sending him flying to left side and landing hard on the ground. After dealing with his young opponent, Electro dissipated the hand construct, also point both hands at the ground and fire two electric bolts that propelled him into the air, then straight towards and landing right in front of the the broken post. Once he reached his intended target, as well as cause more of the nearby spectators to back away, Electro pulled the webbing off of the opening of the post to show the still sparking wires inside. "All right, no more screwing around!" said Electro, with his grin now wider than before, a just like a child digging into a bowl full of candy, he used both hands to grab the wires, and screamed as he absorbed all the power coming from the post.

If all this was not scary enough, Electro also appeared to be taking more than just the posts electricity. For as he continued to absorb more and more juice, all of the lights within the large TV's and buildings around Time Square appeared to flicker on and off, indicating he was taking power through the entire area as well. Not only that, but the power consumption changed the color to Electro's sparky head from yellow to brilliant blue. Finally, after a good twenty to thirty seconds, the now overpowered Electro jumps away from the post and into the air, where he shoots blue electricity out of his hands and below his feet to create a make shift hovering platform construct, all while laughing loud enough for the whole city to here his now almost auto-tuned voice. It was a sight that scared all in attendance, from the Avengers fans, and even some of the Thunderbolt fans.

For the fallen Spidey, hearing Electro's maniacal, almost god-like laughter was enough to get him out of his daze, and as he shook his head, he looked up to see his opponent now airborne and more powerful than ever, all which caused the Web-Head further grief. "Well, this is no better!"

Upon hearing Spidey's distressed words, Electro looked down to get his young enemy in his sights, then pointed his right hand downward and fired a blue lightning blast, aiming for his entire chest instead of his belt buckle.

Needless to say, this caused Spidey to roll to the left side to not avoid the bolt and make it strike the pavement instead, leaving behind a hold. Even as he popped back up on his feet, the Wall-Crawler knew he wasn't out of the woods yet, as he looked up to see Electro fire another lightning blast, thus forcing him to jump and flip backward to dodge that attack as well. As he landed on his feet, Spidey looked over his right shoulder to see the fire hydrant, and immediately started to think back...

_...To the study of the Avengers Mansion, when he, without his mask and enjoying some time he had left as Peter Parker, was with his teammates and were all looking at hologram projection coming from the unmasked Tony Stark's armor, all trying to come up with winning strategies for Peter's match. And it's here where Tony pointed to where the fire hydrant is located. "And if you manage to tear Dillon's suit, you might want to consider shorting him out with the hydrant here. It's not a place where any civilians are allowed to stand, meaning there's no chance for people to get shocked. But, since you said that just touching the guy is too risky, kid, you'll probably have to trick him into blasting it and soaking himself."_

_"That won't be a problem," Peter replied both quickly and confidently._

_While some of the Avengers like Wasp and Tony had confidence in Peter's ability win this match, others such as Luke Cage and Ms. Marvel remained somewhat skeptical. And strangely, of all people to voice their concern for this was not one of the Avengers, but rather Gwen, who was overhearing the whole thing. "Well, not to speak out of line," said Gwen, trying to be respectful to the rest of the Avengers, then walked over to Peter with a worried look. "But Pete, we all saw what Electro's capable of in his last two matches. How can you be so sure that you can beat him?"_

_Peter understood Gwen's concern, and thus gave her a reassuring smile before answering. "Don't worry, Gwen," he told her as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "When it comes to Electro, I know something that can get him right where I want him. In fact, it's what helped me beat when it came to saving you when you were kidnapped last New Year's Eve."_

_Naturally, this caused Gwen to give Peter a confused look. "And that is?"_

_With smile still present, Peter told the girl his plan in three words. "His real name..."_

...back in Time Square, the fully suited Spidey looked away from the hydrant and back into the air to see super charged Electro floating over him.

"Face it, Wall-Crawler," said Electro as he began to charge up both hands. "You might as well just stand there and let me zap you! You're only making it worse for yourself!"

Despite being outmatched in pure power, Spidey let out a scoff as he stood ready to jump for he knew that he was going to entice great rage in his old foe for what he was about to say. "Story of my life...Max!"

As expected, hearing his old name, back when he was a frail, flesh and blood weakling, spurred great anger within Electro, "How many times do I have to tell you...!" he grumbled, then fired a lightning blast from out of his left hand and down towards the waiting Web-Head below. "DON'T CALL ME MAX!"

Spidey easily jumped over to the left side to avoid the blast and saved himself from getting electrocuted, for the moment anyway. _"Okay, got his attention!"_ thought the Web-Head, then looked back up at Electro to continue egging him on. "Aw, still bothered by that?!" he said in a lighthearted, albeit sarcastic tone. "It's a lot better than 'Surge', sounds like something you call a soda! Which, in case you aren't aware, is causing you 'Maximum' embarrassment!" Suddenly, Spidey saw Electro fire another blast out of his right hand, and thus jumped and back flipped up into the air to not only avoid the blast, but also landing and crouching right on top of a fire hydrant. Moments later, the Web-Slinger looked up and saw that the furious Electro followed him and was now floating right above him, which was exactly where he wanted him. "You know, maybe it won't seem so bad if we rework it into a new hero name for you," quipped the Web-Slinger. "Like maybe...'Max Charge'! 'Captain Maximus!' Now wait, I got it...'Maximum Overdrive!'"

Hearing Spidey's endless name calling only seemed to enraged Electro all the much more, as he began to physically glowing bright and brighter. "SHUT UP!" With that scream, the super charged villain literally shot a lighting bolt out of his mouth and straight towards Spidey.

Fortunately for the Web-Head, this was what he was waiting for, and wastes no time in jumping forward and allowing the bolt to hit the fire hydrant instead, causing gallons of water to shoot from out of the ground and hitting Electro himself, electrocuting the villain in the process. As the villain screamed in pain, the electricity from his own body actually shattered his belt buckle, causing the yellow energy to consume him in seconds, until he was frozen completely and fall to the ground.

By the time, Spidey had already landed safely on all fours and watched as his frozen and defeated opponent fall and hit the ground, causing him to let out a sigh of relief.

With the battle now over, the Ref Bot hovered down to Spidey's side, and with the announcer's face looking utterly shocked with what just transpired. "H-Here is your winner...SPIDER-MAN!" the announcer told the crowd, causing the Avengers fans to cheer for the Wall-Crawler, as well as boos from the Thunderbolts fans, though not may of them, for some chose to side with the Avengers after seeing Electro's unhinged behavior.

Meanwhile, back in the Daily Bugle, one person showed his utter disdain for how the match ended. It was that of J. Jonah Jameson, who is now out of his chair and his face visibly red with rage. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" he screamed, loud enough for everyone in the entire floor to hear. "THAT WALL-CRAWLING FREAK CHEAT HIS WAY TO VICTORY AGAIN?!"

Robbie, as usual, said nothing and allowed Jonah to go on his anger driven rant. For while he didn't agree with his boss in regards to Spider-Man, he also didn't wanted to get fired. He then went back to watching the tournament, and smiled in seeing the hero secretly been rooting for win.

Back in Times Square, Spidey was still in the middle of catching his breath, but glad that this match with his mentally disturbed enemy was finally over. Moments later, he looks down at the now frozen Electro on the ground. _"Good ol' predicable Max,"_ he thought to himself while feeling a small ounce of pity for the frozen villain, but glad that he stopped him before he could have hurt everyone else in the area. As he looked around the Square, Spidey noticed a small stand among the cheering people of a man selling T-Shirts, and other CoC merchandise, and what caught his eye was an action figure modeled after the Iron Patriot, causing him to narrow his eyes. _"But as utterly insane as all of this was...I know for a fact that the worst is yet to come!"_

**WINNER: SPIDER-MAN**


	2. Chapter 2

**PERFORMANCE REVIEW**

In a flash of light, the victorious Spidey arrives back in the Garden, in front of the crowd that gave him mixed reaction of cheers from the Avengers fans, as well as boos from some of the fans that still sided with the Thunderbolts even after watching Electro lose both his composure and the match. The Web-Head soon walked back to the Avengers corner, where he soon reunites with his teammates and received a hug from the human-sized Wasp.

Though Wasp squeezed the young hero gently as to not aggravate his other injuries, she could still hear Spidey wince in pain, and thus pulled away from him and looked at him worried. "Pete, are okay?!" she asked him in almost sisterly concern.

"I've been through worse," Spidey replied, still feeling sore from both the claw marks on his chest and from enduring the electric based attacks from his mentally unstable foe. "But hey, all part of the job when you're a superhero, right?"

While Wasp only gave Spidey a warm smile in response to his chipper demeanor, Luke seemed to be indifferent, being too focused on the well fair of Iron Fist and Ant-Man, and the ever serious Ms. Marvel didn't seemed to please with how Spidey performed in his match, and thus approached the Wall-Crawler to let him know that. "Yeah, one who should've remembered to be more mindful of surroundings when he misdirected that lunatics lightning blast into hitting a traffic light that nearly trampled a group of spectators."

This blunt statement caused the Wasp to give Ms. Marvel a annoyed look. "Way to be supportive, Carol!"

However, Spidey saw the painful truth in the Warbird's words, and thus held up his hand to get his size altering teammate's attention. "No, no, she's right," said the saddened Spidey. "I mean, we went through the plan back in the Mansion, so I should've noticed that traffic light post, and knew well enough to keep Electro from blasting it." As he continued, the Wall-Crawler hung his head in shame. "Which means I'm just as much to blame about that traffic light nearly crushing those people."

Even Iron Man did see Ms. Marvel's point in Spidey's mistake, the last thing he needed was for Spidey's confidence to be shattered and morale in his team to be low, especially since their off to a pretty good start. "But it didn't" said the Shell Head as he placed a reassuring right hand on Spidey's shoulder to get his attention. "All because you got in time. So as far as your performance review goes, I'd say you're around...A minus territory. You're doing fine, but learn from the mistake you made and more mindful of where you are in your next match up. Got it?"

Though still disappointed that he 'lost a point' in regards to the street light post, Spidey was nonetheless happy to see that he was doing well in Iron Man and Wasp eyes. "You know it," Spidey replied with a nod, as well as a smile behind his mask.

Meanwhile, with Spidey now back with his teammates, this allows the announcer to once again take center stage to address the crowd. "All right folks, let's keep the action going with our next match up!" said the excited announcer. "For up next, we have our lovely little lady with a big punch, the Wasp, taking on the Thunderbolts' web-slinger, the Scarlet Spider!"

Upon hearing her name, Wasp took one last look at her fellow Avengers. "Well guys, that's my cue," she told her teammates, then turned attention to Spidey to try and give him some comfort in regards to fighting his best friend. "And don't worry, Pete, I'll try to bring Harry down without hurting him." She then held up her gloves, the two things that would be the key to her victory, at least according to Iron Man. "And hopefully, these babies will help me do just that."

"Thanks Jan," said the grateful Spidey. "And good luck!" The Web-Head watched as Wasp gave him a small nod, then turned and walked over to the teleportation pads. As he watched the Wasp step on to the pad, Spidey still couldn't help but think this to himself, while being secretly worried at the same time. _"Good luck in saving Harry...as well as avoiding that parasite attached to his body!"_

Meanwhile, back in the Thunderbolts' corner, the Scarlet Spider bends his neck from side to side as a way to warming up before heading over to the teleportation pads. Before he went on his way to have his match, the symbiote covered teen felt the steel hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up and see the Iron Patriot himself.

"So far, you've been making me proud, son," said the Patriot with strong and stern tone. "Don't stop now."

The Scarlet Spider gave his armored father a nod of acknowledgement. "I don't plan on it, sir," he replied with a smile underneath his symbiote made mask, and now happy that he has his father's approval and respect, the Scarlet Spider turned and headed over to the center of the stage, where the Wasp was waiting. The Scarlet Spider stepped on to the pad, and with both fighters now accounted for, they both vanished out of sight and headed over to their unknown destination to have their anticipated match.


	3. Chapter 3

**QUARTER FINALS: THE WASP VS. SCARLET SPIDER**

On the beaches of San Jaw, Puerto Rico, a specially made large platform sits on the shore with large holoscreens floating above it. Anxious local spectators were in the area as well, and just like the battle stations before, were all behind large energy ropes. Moments later, both the still human sized Wasp and the Scarlet Spider appeared in a large flash of light, causing the native fans to cheer.

As Wasp took a moment to glance at the cheering fans, she saw one male fan in particular. one that was a middle aged man with a mustache holding up a sign which said 'please marry me, Wasp' in Puerto Rican. Thanks to being educating in many languages, Wasp read and understood the sign and while she was flatered by this man's feelings, as well as feeling a little creeped out, the prospect of marriage caused her a bit of heartbreak, as it reminded her of one Hank Pym, who she lost when a mental breakdown turned him into Yellowjacket, and was now a prisoner by the mind controlled S.H.I.E.L.D.

Meanwhile, inside the brig of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helcarrioer, Yellowjacket himself was still in his cell and completely immobilized as he watched Wasp and Scarlet Spider arrive on the battle platform via the small screen that the guards were watching at their station. And while there was not going on in Yellowjacket's cell...

...There was plenty going on inside his own mind. For both the Henry Pym and Yellowjacket personalities were also watching the tournament through the 'eye windows.'

While Henry Pym looked generally worried for Wasp's safety, Yellowjacket just watched with a condescending sneer. "Well," said the unimpressed Yellowjacket as he looked through the eye window with crossed arms. "Let's see how she screws this up."

Hank gave Yellowjacket an angry glare, then turned his attention back to the Wasp, who by this time was tightening her gloves. "Good luck, Jan...and be careful."to

Back in Puerto Rico, the Ref Bot was already in between the two combatants, with the announcer's face just finishing up in making sure that Wasp and Scarlet Spider understood the rules. Once he received clarification on both ends, he mentally commanded the Ref Bot to fly up into the air. "All righty then...BEGIN!"

The Scarlet Spider wasted no time in getting things underway as he held up his right and and shot a symbiote based web-line at the Wasp.

Luckily for Wasp though, she spotted this and shrunk to insect size and as soon as her wings grew out of her back, she easily evaded the web-line. _"Well, somebody's tenacious,"_ she thought as she then zoom towards the Scarlet Spider at high speeds, and as she arrived, began to literally fly circles around her young opponent to confuse him. Afterwards, she shrunk even small so as not to be seen, then pressed two buttons in her gloves to activate a setting that Tony install that would help her separate the symbiote from the young Harry Osborn. Even though she wasn't a keen fan of this tactic, feeling that it was somewhat cheating, she also knew that the young Osborn's well-being was at stake when wearing the parasitic suit, and thus knew it may be the only thing that can save him. _"Well, here goes nothing."_ With that though, Wasp pointed her hands at the Scarlet Spider body, turned her hands into fists, which caused two small compartments to open on the back of her gloves which soon fired loud sonic waves as she flew all around the young Thunderbolt's body.

This tactic appeared to pay off, for it not only caused the Scarlet Spider to scream out in pain, but it also cause the suit to weaken and slowly fall off the young Harry Osborn, who was revealed to be wearing a black bodysuit underneath, and forcing him down to his knees in agony. In truth, the pain that Harry felt belonged to that of the symbiote, but since their bonding, it made whatever pain it experienced his, as one of many ways to show that 'it' was in charge and that it should be more careful when being it's host, or more accurately, it's vessel.

Meanwhile, back in the Garden, the gives somewhat of a lukewarm reception. Partly because Wasp was too small for them to see what she was doing to the young Harry Osborn to make his suit fall off, and thus wasn't particularly exciting. As for the the Avengers though, they all looked at the screen anxious and worried.

But none more than Spidey, for while he was happy to see that Wasp seemed to be succeeding in getting the suit off of Harry and perhaps save him from the suit's influence. But at the same time, if his experience with the 'black suit' taught him anything, it's that symbiotes are anything but predictable. _"Stay Frosty, Jan."_

Back in Puerto Rico, despite tiring rapidly, the Wasp saw that Harry's symbiote was barely even on his body and thus decided to fly over to his face to try and talk with him, while still firing her waves. "Harry, listen to me!" she called out. "You need get that suit off! Whatever you're dad told you-!"

Suddenly, hearing the Wasp mention his father was enough to stir anger within the weakened Harry. "Shut up!" he bared, but still consumed in pain. "Don't...you dare try to play therapist and act...like you know me or my father! Especially since...you're the one causing me a crap load of pain!"

"I'm hurting the suit!" the concerned Wasp corrected. "And from what I've gathered, it's transferring it's pain to you as a way to try and control you! And as far as your Dad is concerned, what father would allow their own child to be bonded to some alien parasite?! Please Harry, fight that thing off and above all, do it for the people who still care about you! Like Gwen and Peter!"

It was here that Harry's anger finally took over when his pixie of an opponent made mention of both his girlfriend and his former best friend. Two people who, in his mind, were planning to turn their backs on him before his father's 'death' as the Green Goblin. "I...said...SHUT UP!" Harry roared, and in his rage, he gains the strength to hold up his own two hands, then clapped them together with the Wasp in the middle, holding her tightly and with enough force to crush and destroy the sonicwave shooters on the back of her gloves. With the sonicwaves now gone, his compels the symbiote to once again cover Harry's entire body, completing the Scarlet Spider guise once more and increasing his strength in squeezing the Wasp.

This of course led to the Wasp let out a pain filled scream, but as she felt Harry's grip grow tighter and tighter, she soon began to feel light headed and dizzy. Moments later, the tiny Avengers eyes rolled to the back of her head, and with a moan, tilted her head backward as she passed out from lack of oxygen.

Back in the Garden, this act was seen by all in attendance, and more notably, by the horrified Avengers, where Spidey, who was starting to grow attached to Wasp, and Ms. Marvel, the founding Avenger's best friend, all screamed this in unison. "NOOO!"

Over in Puerto Rico, the Scarlet Spider continued to squeeze the now unconscious Wasp, but as he did so, his muscle seemed to grow bigger, his red bug eyes seemed to grow more jagged and twisted. In his seething rage, the slightly changed Scarlet Spider was just about to snap the small Avenger like a twig, but suddenly, he stopped when he heard the void of his father via the com-link in his ear. _**"Harry!"**_ said the Patriot in an agitated tone. _**"I'm watching the match, and I'm not like how you are starting to make the team, and me, look bad! Finish the match! Not the girl!"**_

Hearing the displeasure in his father's voice was enough to scare the Scarlet Spider out of his rage, and calm down enough to make his muscle shrink down to normal size and his red eyes to return to their original shape. Then, just like in his match with Ant-Man, he placed the Wasp's limp unconscious body in his right hand and with his left finger, pressed on her belt buckle to destroy and cause yellow energy to consume her unconscious frame.

Something that was seen back in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrior's holding bring, where the guards watching were cheering in the Scarlet Spider's victory. Also witnessing the match was that of Yellowjacket, and more importantly, inside his own mind, the Hank Pym personality in complete distress in seeing the woman he loves lose and now about to be imprisoned. "JAN!"

Back in Puerto Rico, the Scarlet Spider stood in front of the stunned native crowd, with the frozen and defeated Wasp in his right hand. Moments later, the Ref Bot hovered over to the victorious young Thunderbolt, with the announcer's face present. "And the winner is...THE SCARLET SPIDER!"

Though he heard some cheering from some fans, but a large amount of boos from the crowd because of how short the match was, the Scarlet Spider ignored them as he looked down at the petrified Wasp in disdain. _"Well, that takes care of one annoying bug,"_ he thought as he tossed the Wasp to the floor like a toy, then looked at the Ref Bot's screen and besides the announcer, he saw Spidey, who is just as shocked as the rest of the Avengers. _"That just leaves one more!"_

**WINNER: THE SCARLET SPIDER**


	4. Chapter 4

**COMPROMISED**

It was a feeling of loss and dread for the Avengers and their fans. For upon witnessing the defeat of the Wasp, who quite frankly was the heart and soul of the team, it felt like a knife slowly being pierced into their own hearts. Even more so for Ms. Marvel, who always thought of Wasp as her little sister and felt great rage brewing inside of her after seeing her size-altering friend not only lose, but was handled disrespectfully by the callous, symbiote wearing Scarlet Spider.

Also sharing in Ms. Marvel's sorrow was that of Spidey, who now felt that another friend had been lost to this whole mess. One one of which had always supported him as both a hero and Avenger the whole way.

Seconds later, the Scarlet Spider appeared on the platform, all with the mixed reaction, consisting to the cheering of some of the Thunderbolts fans, while the rest booed, some in support of the Avengers and others not too happy with how short the match was. However, the Scarlet Spider simply ignored the crowd as he walked back over to the Thunderbolts corner and approached the one person whose opinion is truly important to him.

That person being none other than the Iron Patriot, who stood there with his arms crossed as his symbiote powered son walked over to him. "Well, despite your little outburst, I'm glad to see you managed to win son," said the Patriot, sounding calm at first, but soon leaned in close to the Scarlet Spider so he could tell him this. "But that for the sake of the team's image, as well as yours and mine, you'll have better control of both that suit and your emotions in your next match?"

"Yes sir," replied Scarlet Spider, his voice consumed in both shame and fear upon hearing his father's deadpan tone. He then turned back to the screen and noticed the image of the Semi-Final brackets, and sees that his name has been moved next to 'Spider-Man', revealing his next opponent. This of course caused the Scarlet Spider to look straight ahead at the Web-Head himself, and growl in rage.

In the Avengers corner, the already troubled Spidey also looked at the screen and saw who he was facing in the Semi Finals. This of course causes him to look straight ahead to see the Scarlet Spider seething with anger, all which led him to let out a dejected sigh. _"Great,"_ he thought to himself. _"After losing one friend, I also have to fight another one who wants to rip my head off. It's times like this that make me wish that 'infinite crappy luck' was one of the other things I got from that spider bite."_

Meanwhile, the announcer took the stage once again to keep the tournament going. "All right folks, we now move on to that has brother against brother...or rather, brother against sister! As our next match has two Avengers facing each other, namely hard hitting Luke Cage and the high flying Ms. Marvel!"

With the crowd cheering in approval, Luke took a moment to turn to Ms. Marvel, who stretching her arms out. "No offence," said the Hero for Hire, causing Ms. Marvel to turn and look at him. "But I've never been too comfortable hitting a woman. So if it's all the same to you, I'm just gonna pretend you're a man."

Though Ms. Marvel was annoyed by this by this 'because you're a girl' comment, she still understood that this was somewhat uncomfortable for the Power Man, and gave him a quick nod. "Whatever helps you get through this match, Cage," she told Luke, then gave him a determined glare. "But don't think that this means I'll go easy on you!"

"Fair enough," Luke replied with a smirk, then both he and Ms. Marvel proceeded to the teleportation pads so they could begin their fight.

However, Iron Man watches his two teammates walk off with a worried expression behind his faceplate. For while it was true that whoever won would score a point for the Avengers, it also meant that the loser would end up as a prisoner in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrior. It was a scenario in which he hated, and what was worse, he couldn't do anything about it, all which led him to let out an uneasy sigh. _"Just try not to kill each other, you two."_

Spidey was also worried for Luke and Ms. Marvel as he watched them step on to their pads, then vanish out of sight just seconds later. Afterwards, the Web-Head turned his attention back to the Iron Patriot and narrowed his eyes at the Thunderbolts' leader in anger. _"I'll bet Jonah's next ridiculously low paycheck that you're enjoying the Avengers go down bit by bit, Gobby!"_ he thought bitterly, then let's out a breath to relax himself as he remembered the one true bright side of all this insanity. _"But at least Gwen is safe."_

Meanwhile, back in the studio seats, Victoria and the Gwen duplicate continued to watch the tournament proceedings, with Victoria being silently invested but the duplicate unnaturally pleasant.

Victoria noticed the duplicate's strange behavior, name that she would be a little disturbed with aggressively her boyfriend acted in his match. "Well...I have to admit, I was a little worried to see Harry go overboard. But I'm glad that he was quick to regain himself." Victoria told the duplicate, trying to sound as shocked as the crowd, but at the same time, wanting to see how 'Gwen' would react.

"Yeah, he had me scared too," the Gwen duplicate replied, with her optimistic, almost lifeless smile still present. "But I knew Harry would pull through in the end."

Victoria grew even more suspicious of the 'Gwen's behavior, but not wanting to let the duplicate know that, she gave him a gentle smile of her own. "Well, in that case, he's lucky to have someone as faithful as you as his boyfriend." said Victoria, trying to appear as pleasant as possible.

Moments later, the door opened and in came a female, blonde haired server with two drinks on a silver tray, with a soda can for Gwen and the other a bottle of water for Victoria. "Your drinks, ladies."

"Just put them right there," said Victoria, pointing on a small table between her and the Gwen duplicate.

The server gave Victoria a polite nod and placed the trey on the table as instructed, but later accidently dropped it, and the drinks, on the floor. However, Victoria's water bottle still had it's cap on the top, and the Gwen's duplicate was also closed, meaning that none of their drinks were spilt all over the carpet. Both ladies picked up her drinks, and while Victoria placed her water on the table so she could chastise the server for how clumsy she was, the duplicate picked up her drink, and proceeded to open it.

Something which caught Victoria's attention. "Whoa, Gwen" said the wide eyed and cautious Victoria. "You might want to wait a few minutes be fore you..."

Before Victoria could finish her warning, the Gwen duplicate already opened the can, and as expected, soda spewed all over like a guyser, and got all over the duplicate's closed. As this happened, it caused the duplicate to short out and fall to the floor, where it began to shake violently as if it were having a seizure. It didn't take long for the nanites that composed the duplicate's very being to fall apart and be reduced to nothing but smoking pebbles.

Naturally, this came as a surprise for Victoria, and saw that the horrified server was about to scream and thus swooped in and placed her right hand over her mouth to prevent her from doing so as not to alert anyone nearby, being some of the fans near the box or any of the staff outside. "Shut it!" she whispered in her ear. "Just turn around, walk away, and pretend you didn't see anything!" She then pushed the server away, causing the frightened girl to simply run out of the room in fear. Afterwards, Victoria rubbed her neck, which was a habit she did whenever she was in deep thought, and was suddenly alarmed when she felt stinging sensation in her neck, as if she was pricked by a dart. Moments later, she remember that she fell asleep just a few minutes later, and soon put two and two together and deduced that she must've ben tranquilized and someone switched out the real Gwen with the duplicate while she was out. _"Just beautiful,"_ she thought irritably, dreading the tongue lashing that she'll definitely receive from the Iron Patriot once he hears about this. She then pulled out her cellphone from out of her pocket and pressed the button which dialed the numbers of nearby S.H.I.E.L.D. undercover agents in the building. "Attention all stations, this is Hand! We've been compromised!"


	5. Chapter 5

**QUARTER FINALS: MS. MARVEL VS. LUKE CAGE  
  
** The location for the third match-up of the Contest of Champions tournament was now the Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, where a thirty-foot wide hovering platform floated over the pond and also had floating holo-screens above it so the thousands of spectators, be it from behind the energy ropes stationed around the pond or to the people watching on the Lagoon Bridge, could watch the match. Finally, both Ms. Marvel and Luke Cage arrived on the platform, which caused the spectators to applaud.    
  
For Ms. Marvel, this was a pleasant surprise, seeing is how that this was her hometown and tried to soak it all in as she looked around the park to see all the cheering Avengers fans, even allow a smile to appear on her face. "I'm home!"    
  
Luke overheard Ms. Marvel's astonished words and thus gives her a curious raised eyebrow. "You don't say?" asked the Hero for Hire, causing the Warbird to turn and face him. "Well, no offence, but I got friends that I need to save," Luke then proceeded to pop the knuckles in his hands. "And to do that, this is going to have to be the town where you get beat."    
  
Ms. Marvel replied to this by pounding her fists together. "Don't be too sure, 'Power Man'," said the Warbird, for she not only had comrades. of her own to save, the Wasp chief among them, but her more competitive tomboy side took this as a challenge.    
  
Meanwhile, back in the Garden, the crowd watched both Ms. Marvel and Luke arrive in Boston and were itching with anticipation for the upcoming match.    
  
One person who seemed to be the most invested, besides the Avengers, was that of the Iron Patriot, who kept his narrowed eyes at the screen. _"Well, I suppose I should be furious that no traps have been installed in the Boston battle station,"_ he thought to himself then smirked behind his faceplate. _"But it doesn't matter. They're both Avengers, meaning whoever loses this match will be one less annoyance to worry about. And I'm fully prepared to deal with whoever wins."_ Suddenly, the Patriot heard a beeping sound coming from inside his helmet, and grunted in aggravation when he saw the photo pic of Maria Hill, knowing that she must the one calling him. "Armor, answer," he ordered, and at that moment, the photo disappeared and was replaced with an icon showing Maria on the main bridge of the Helocarrier. "Whatever it is, Hill, it better be important."    
  
**_"Sir,"_ ** said a somewhat reluctant Maria on the other end. **_"We may have a problem."  
  
_ ** Back in Boston, the announcer, via the Ref Bot, had just finished in making sure that Ms. Marvel and Luke understood the rules, and at that moment, mentally commanded the bot to fly up high into the air. "BEGIN!!!"    
  
Upon hearing those words, both Luke and Ms. Marvel got the match underway by charging towards one another with both of their right fists cocked back. It wasn't long before they each threw a punch and their fists collided, causing a large band, and while Luke backed away and shook his hand in pain, Ms. Marvel took the shock of the impact and continued her assault by dashing towards Luke and went for a left uppercut.    
  
Luke, on the other hand, spotted this attack and quickly leaned back, avoiding the blow. Wanting to end this quickly, the Hero for Hire through a left legged front kick, aiming for Ms. Marvel's belt buckle.    
  
However, Ms. Marvel easily saw this attack coming and this held both of her arms down in an 'X' fashion over her belt buckle. While she succeeded in blocking Luke's kick, the force of the blow managed to send her reeling back a few feet and she stopped herself from going over the edge and off the platform.    
  
Luke saw that Ms. Marvel had inadvertently left herself open while trying to regain her bearings, and as much as he hated to do so, he knew that he had to win the match and get one step closer to saving Iron Fist and Ant-Man. And so, with a reluctant sigh, the Power Man charged towards the disoriented Ms. Marvel.    
  
Fortunately for the Warbird though, she looked forward and saw Luke coming her way, and as he got close enough, threw a straight punch towards her buckle. Acting fast, she jumped up into the air and over Luke's head, where she then made good use of her flying ability by staying airborne and hovered towards the center of the platform.    
  
A startled Luke barely managed to stop himself from going over the edge, and in an impressive show of balance, he managed to turn around, look up and see the airborne Ms. Marvel, and thus used his powerful legs to leap towards the Warbird with the intent of her down.    
  
However, Ms. Marvel saw Luke coming her way, and once he was close enough, she used her hands to grab his right arm and gave him a judo shoulder throw, sending him down hard on the platform. Moments later, she dived down feet first, going to plunge the bottom of her boots into his belt buckle and win the match.    
  
But while on his back, Luke had managed to shake the cobwebs out, and as he looked up, he saw Ms. Marvel coming down towards him and thus rolled to the right side, causing the blonde-haired Avenger to ram her feet into the platform instead, which resulted in her creating a large dent beneath her feet. After saving himself, Luke immediately got back up and ran towards Ms. Marvel, who by now was floating up back into the air.    
  
Ms. Marvel soon spotted Luke coming towards her and throwing a right hook, forcing her to hold both of her arms up to the right side to block the punch, and responded with a quick left back-fist to the Hero for Hire's face. After stunning him, the Warbird threw a right hook of her own, nailing the already dazed Luke in the jaw, which resulted in him staggering backward, but not off his feet. Seeing that Luke was indeed tougher then he looked, Ms. Marvel charged towards him and attempted to bring him down by throwing a left hook.    
  
However, Luke was able to recover quickly and thus held up his left arm to block the punch coming his way.    
  
But even after having her attack stopped, Ms. Marvel pressed on by throwing a right jab, with the hopes of stunning Luke again and leaving him open for a much harder blow.    
  
The Hero for Hire, on the other hand, managed to not only use his right hand to block the punch coming his way, but also used his left hand to grab the Warbird's wrist, all so Luke could use his other hand to grab Ms. Marvel's right ankle and hoist her over his shoulders. Moments later, he dropped backward and drove his blonde-haired opponent down on the platform hard. After sitting up and getting back up on his feet, Luke turned and looked down at the fallen Warbird, who was still holding her lower back in pain and leaving her belt buckle exposed. This prompted Luke to wind his fist back and proceed to drive his knuckles towards Ms. Marvel's buckle and end this match.    
  
Fortunately for Ms. Marvel though, she proved to be just as fast to regain her composure and thus rolled to the right side, causing Luke to punch his fist into the platform, making a dent but not hard enough to drive his entire hand through the steel. Afterwards, Luke looked straight ahead to see the newly recovered Ms. Marvel was not right in front of him and throwing a low right legged front kick, forcing him to use both of his hands to block the blow.    
  
Ms. Marvel still refused to give up though, and thus quickly pulled her right foot back, all so she could use her left leg to throw a roundhouse kick, aiming for Luke's head.    
  
Luke stopped this attack by holding up his left arm to block the kick and pushed his her foot away from him. As he went to stand up, he throw a left uppercut, to which Ms. Marvel avoided by ducking sideways to the right side.    
  
After saving herself, Ms. Marvel made her move by bending her legs and simultaneously shifted to the left side, where she popped up and went for a left cross.    
  
However, Luke anticipated this and thus held up his left arm to block the punch, then managed to sneak in a right middle punch into Ms. Marvel's abdomen, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to bend forward. This, in turn, caused Luke to place her head between his thighs, then wrapped both of his arms around her mid-section, lifted her up over his shoulder, all the while holding both of her arms out in a cross position over his head. A split second later, Luke dropped to his knees and threw Ms. Marvel down back first on to the platform. Now in control, Luke stood back up and looked down at the Warbird laying on her already aching back. "You fought a good fight, lady," said Luke, sounding disappointed as he wound his right fist back. "Sorry that I have to do this." The Hero for Hire then threw this fist downward, with Ms. Marvel's belt buckle once again the target.    
  
Suddenly, Luke's punch is stopped when Ms. Marvel used both of her hands to catch the Power Man's fist before it could even touch her belt buckle. Then, mustering both her physical and inner strength, she pushed Luke's fist upward as she got up, with her entire person glowing the bright golden Kree energy as a result. "I was about to tell you the same thing, Cage," Ms. Marvel retorted, then pushed his fist outward.    
  
Despite his punch being stopped, Luke remained on high alert and sure enough, he spotted Ms. Marvel had approached him and threw a left legged crescent kick. This caused Luke to act by bending his knees to not only duck underneath the kick, but also shift to his right side, and upon popping up, he attempted to counter attack by throwing a left elbow strike.    
  
The glowing Ms. Marvel responded by not only holding up his right arm to block Luke's elbow, then with her other hand, threw a quick jab into his left side, which caused him to wince in pain as well as bend down slightly to that side. This gave the blonde-haired Avenger the time needed to levitate up a few inches off the platform, all so she could reach down and wrap her arms around the bending Luke's waist, and thanks to her super-strength, she lifted him up off the platform and on her right shoulder, with the Hero for Hire himself lying up right. Seconds later, she fell forward into a sit-out position, while Luke himself flipped forward and landed on his belly so hard, it caused his belt buckle to shatter and caused yellow energy to engulf his body and freeze him place.    
  
This resulted in the Ref Bot to hover down to Ms. Marvel as she was standing back up on her feet, and the announcer's face appeared on it's screen. "Here is your winner...MS. MARVEL!"    
  
As her hometown crowd cheered her on, Ms. Marvel looked down at the defeated Luke sadly, knowing that upon beating him, she sent him to join Wasp and the rest of the Avengers that lost their matches as prisoners of the mind controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. _"You better be ready, Osborn,"_ she thought bitterly. _"Because the beatings I gave the Skurlls, Ronan and the rest of the Kree have all just been trumped by the beating I'm going to give you!"_   
  
**WINNER: MS. MARVEL  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**PULLING STRINGS  
  
** As the Garden was filled with the crowd's mixture of cheers and boos, the Iron Patriot, who stood with his arms crossed, was still conversing with Maria Hill via his helmet, and was not the least bit happy on the news given to him. "Hand was suppose to never let that girl out of her sight!" he hissed with brewing anger, then looked through the corner of his right eye to see if the Scarlet Spider heard him, and to his relief, he appeared to be more focused on Spidey. However, he still found his son's relationship with Gwen to be the main factor of why he was weak, and knew that when this was all over, she had to be 'dealt with."    
  
Back in the Helocarrior, Maria was talking the Patriot via the intercom system on the Captain's post, also appearing unhappy on Gwen's disappearance, but not quite upset as the Patriot himself. "I know, sir. She said that she remembered feeling a prick in her neck then blacked out, which could only mean that she was tranquilized. But by who or what, she couldn't say."    
  
On the other end, the Patriot could only let out an aggravated sigh as he came to this conclusion. **_"So, it appears that Stark is using help from outside sources. Wonderful."  
  
_ ** Maria was also not surprised by this, for part of her knew that the 'outside sources' mentioned was most likely that of her old boss, Nick Fury, who had been known to have help from people outside of S.H.I.E.L.D., besides the Avengers anyway. "I'll alert our undercover agents in New York to have them do a search of the city."    
  
**_"No,"_ ** The Patriot replied sharply and loud enough for the entire ship to hear. **_"There's no need in wasting our time and resources in finding one pain in the ass teenaged girl! Besides, if Stark can pull a few strings, so can I!"_   
  
** "Sir?" asked a puzzled Maria at her post.    
  
Back in the Garden, the Patriot just witnessed Ms. Marvel teleporting back into the arena and in front of cheering fans. Aside from feeling that the sight of a winning Avenger return felt like pouring salt on an open wound, the Patriot knew that this meant that his match was next and thus had to cut this conversation short. "Just contact a man by the name of Phillip Masters. He owes me a favor. Tell him who the girl is, and he'll make her come to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a match to win. Osborn out." Upon saying the word 'out', the A.I. system in the Patriot's helmet cut off his conversation with Maria, and the Patriot himself looked straight ahead at his soon-to-be opponent: Iron Man.    
  
Meanwhile, in the Avengers corner, Spidey saw Ms. Marvel finally come over to both him and Iron Man, but with the young hero himself being afraid to approach her. For one thing, even though she won her match, she did so by defeating Luke Cage, their fellow teammate, and thus shared her feelings on how this felt more like a major blow to the team rather than a victory. Also, he already knew that he wasn't exactly on her good side and did not want to risk making her madder than she already was.    
  
Iron Man also believed that this was a sad moment rather than a happy one, and thus, he gave Ms. Marvel a pat on her shoulder as some form of comfort. "Go ahead and rest up, Carol," he told her gently, then turned his attention to the Iron Patriot and angrily narrowed his eyes at him. "It's time I personally showed Osborn just how badly he just pissed us off!"    
  
Though Ms. Marvel wanted to pound the Patriot personally, deep down, she knew that Iron Man was just as capable and thus gave him a nod. "Give him one for me, Stark."    
  
Spidey, also having nothing but disgust for the Patriot, is the next to address the Shell-Head. "Me too!" said the Web-Head, and his serious tone changed to that of a more concerned one. "But be careful, Osborn's a lot craftier than he lets on!"    
  
"Yeah, well aware of that, kid!" Iron Man replied, still glaring at the Patriot angrily and not forgetting what he did the rest of his teammates.    
  
Back on the center of the stage, the announcer wasted no time in getting back in the limelight to address the crowd. "All right folks, let's close the Quarter Finals with the teams' respected leaders who prove that heroes are not only born...they're also built! For we have the Golden Avenger, Iron Man, taking on his red, white and blue counterpart, the Iron Patriot!    
  
The Patriot soon unfolds his arms, and before he could be on his way, he briefly turned to the Scarlet Spider, who still had his eyes glowed to Spidey. "Well, I'm off, son," he said coldly, and succeeded in getting his symbiote covered son's attention. "I trust you won't do anything rash while I'm gone?"    
  
"N-No sir," the Scarlet Spider answered somewhat shyly, for with or without the armor, he still viewed his father as someone to both respect and fear. "Good luck, Dad!"    
  
The Patriot gave his son a quick nod, then turned and proceeded to the teleportation pad, where Iron Man was already standing and standing and waiting. Once both armored leaders of their respected factions were on the pads, they soon vanished out of sight and transported to an unknown destination, where they could decide who has the better armor...as well as the better man. 


	7. Chapter 7

**QUARTER FINALS: IRON MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT  
  
** On the top of the Giza Plateau in Egypt, two teleportation pads are set right in front of one of the pyramids, where seconds later, both Iron Man and the Iron Patriot appeared in a flash of light. Upon arrival, Iron Man took a moment to look around his surroundings, and for the most part, appeared to be pleasantly surprised. "Egypt, huh? Well, I know I'm suppose to take a business trip here in a couple of weeks, but didn't think I'd be here this early."    
  
This comment caused J.A.R.V.I.S., the Shellhead's trusty A.I., to butt in. _"QUITE SO, SIR, HOWEVER, I SHOULD REMIND YOU THAT SENSE YOU ARE NEAR THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA, ONE OF EGYPT'S, IF NOT THE WORLD'S MOST TEASURED..."  
  
_ "Yeah, yeah, I know, 'exercise caution,'" Iron Man chimed in, sounding irritated. While he knew that J.A.R.V.I.S. was trying to be the voice of reason, literally and figuratively, he clearly was not in the mood for it. "Relax, J.A.R.V.I.S., I'll try not to make too big of a mess." After answering his doting A.I., Iron Man turned and narrowed his eyes at the Iron Patriot himself. "Or at least not as big of a mess that I'm going to turn Norman into!"    
  
Moments later, the Ref Bot soon showed up, announcer's face and all, and hovered over between the two armored fighters. "All right gentlemen, are you ready?" he asked, receiving quick nods from both men in response. Afterwards, the announcer commanded the Ref Bot to rocket up into the air and let out this one word that would start the final match of the CoC Quarter Finals. "BEGIN!"    
  
Both men heeded the announcer's call, but it is the Patriot who started things off by holding up his left hand and firing a repulsor blast, aiming for Iron Man's belt buckle.    
  
Upon seeing the attack coming his way, Iron Man powered up his jet boots and rocketed up into the air, saving his belt buckle from getting destroyed. While airborne, the Shellhead bent forward and mentally commanded two compartments in his shoulders to open and dropped two circular smart bombs at the Patriot himself.    
  
However, the Patriot managed to protect himself from this attack by giving his armor a mental command of his own, and thus caused a forcefield to appear all around his body and thus shield him from the smart bombs, which exploded upon making contact and thus created a large cloud of smoke. Though he managed to save himself , the process of creating the forcefield required the Patriot to stand still, and as the smoke started to subside, he had no choice but to start moving around and deactivate the forcefield. Moments later, the armored Thunderbolt received quite the shock when he spotted Iron Man coming down like a comet falling from the sky and going for a right hook. Activing fast, the Patriot used his right hand to catch the Shellhead's fist, then placed his left hand behind the Golden Avenger's helmeted head and threw him to the ground.    
  
Even though Iron Man's attack failed, he stilled managed to control his fall by rolling on the ground and ended up in a kneeling position. He then looked over his right shoulder to see the Patriot coming towards him with a left hook, and seeing this as an opportunity, the kneeling Shellhead turned around, held up his left to block the punch, and responded by standing up and throwing a right uppercut to the Patriot's chin.    
  
This punch did stun the Patriot, but not for long. For he soon spotted Iron Man holding up his right hand and charging it up for a repulsor blast, one that was aimed for the Thunderbolt's built-in buckle. This forced the recovering Patriot to step in and use his left arm to block and push Iron Man's right hand downward, causing him to blast the ground instead. A split second later, the Patriot took this opportunity to hold his up his right palm, intending to fire a blast of his own into Iron Man's faceplate and stun him long enough to leave his buckle open for a stronger attack.    
  
Fortunately for Iron Man though, he managed to use his left hand to grab and hold the Patriot's energy charged palm outward to the right side, forcing the Thunderbolt to fire his blast into the air. Afterwards, Iron Man pulled his right hand back, then spun around and delivered a spinning right backfist, nailing his armored opponent in the right side of his head and making him stagger backward. At first, Iron Man couldn't help but be utterly amazed at what he had just done, for he had no idea that he was capable of such a counterattack, wearing his armor or not.  "J.A.R.V.I.S...."    
  
_"YES, SIR?"  
  
_ After shaking off his amazement of what he just did, Iron Man quickly got into a boxing stance once he saw the Patriot shake off the effects of the backfirst. "After we save the others, reminded me to thank Cap for the self-defense lessons."   
  
_"DULY NOTED, SIR,"  
  
_ The Patriot, now fully recovered and enraged on how he could allow Iron Man to land such a blow, charged towards the Shellhead with his left fist cocked back.    
  
Keeping Cap's training in mind, Iron Man naturally anticipated this and once the Patriot got close enough, held up his left arm to block.    
  
Unfortunately, this turned out to be something that the Patriot was hoping would happen. For it turned out, the Thunderbolt feint the left hook, all so he could use the right hand to deliver a hard middle punch to the Golden Avenger's abdomen, forcing him to bend forward. This allowed the Patriot to power on his jet boots, and in the process, gave Iron Man a rising left legged knee strike to his faceplate, sending the Shellhead up a couple of feet off the ground and landing hard on his back.    
  
Once airborne, the Patriot hovered over the fallen Iron Man and pointed both of his open palms down at him. "Face it, Stark," said the Thunderbolt as he charged up his hands to fire his blasts. "This world needs a newer, SUPERIOR Iron Man! A role that's tailor made for me!" With that declaration, the Patriot fired two blasts, aiming for Iron Man's buckle.    
  
Fortunately for Iron Man though, he saw the blasts coming and acted by pointed his hands and feet downward, powered up his repulsors and jet boots and zoomed upward, causing the Patriot's blasts to hit the ground and create a small hole instead. The Golden Avenger then rolled backward then popped back up on his feet, and upon recovery, looked up at the stunned Patriot. "The only thing tailor made for you Osborn is a prison jumpsuit!" The determined Iron Man called out, then activated his jet boots once more and rocketed back up into the air and straight towards the Patriot himself.    
  
The Patriot spotted this and fired two more repulsor blasts in response, only for them to be avoided when the flying Iron Man spun in a helix pattern. Just as he saw the Shellhead cock his right fist back, the Patriot hovered over to the left side to avoid the incoming uppercut.    
  
Despite missing, Iron Man still refused to give up, and as he turned to the left side to see the Patriot flying towards him, he quickly deactivated his jet boots so he can throw a right legged front kick.    
  
Sadly, the Patriot quickly used both of his hands, as well as his armor's speed, to catch Iron Man's foot, all with a smirk behind his faceplate. With a firm grip on his armored enemy's foot, the Thunderbolt spun around at speeds rivaling that of an F-5 tornado, until a split second later, he released Iron Man's foot and sent the Shellhead straight towards the top of one of the pyramids, which strangely enough seemed to be reflecting a light at the top.    
  
However, despite being thrown at high speeds, as well as having that light being flashed in the eyes, Iron Man still refused to let any of these things stop him, mainly because since becoming a superhero, he's endured worse. Besides, as far as the light was concerned, the Shellhead knew that it was yet another 'surprise' from the Patriot, and thus gave this command. "J.A.R.V.I.S.! Gonna need some shades!"    
  
_"RIGHT AWAY, SIR!"_ J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, and at that moment, caused a pair of tinted lenses to slide down and cover the helmet's eye holes. This not only protected Iron Man's eyes from the glare, but also allowed gave him infrared vision, which allowed him to see the body heat of two people.    
  
These people were in fact two S.H.I.E.L.D agents wearing cloaking suits and riding a hovercraft, which was invisible due to cloaking technology. They were stationed on top of the pyramid to secretly provide the Patriot with an unfair advantage, with one agent holding a mirror to reflect light from the sun, and the other holding a gun-type weapon that was designed to deactivate Iron Man's armor.    
  
Soon after seeing this danger, Iron Man saved himself by kicking his feet forward and powering on his jet boots, with the rocket exhaust so powerful, it blew the invisible agents off their hovercraft and sent them sliding down the pyramid. A feat that Iron Man knew that they would survive thanks to their cloaking armor. Second later, Iron Man spun around and sped towards the Patriot, then retaliated by holding his left hand out and firing a repulsor blast, which in turn made a direct hit on the Patriot's faceplate, both stunning and blinding him. Now having the Thunderbolt right where he wanted him, Iron Man quickly delivered a right downward punch, nailing the Patriot in the side of his helmeted head and sending him flying down and crashing into the ground below.    
  
Though the attack was powerful, it didn't keep the Patriot down for long, as he sat up through still having to shake the cobwebs out. It wasn't until he saw a shadow over him that he looked up and saw Iron Man coming down towards him again, forcing the Thunderbolt to roll to the left side and causing the Shellhead to punch his right fist into the ground, creating a small crater. After saving himself, the Patriot got back up on his feet, charged his jet boots and sped towards Iron Man while he was still kneeling.    
  
Iron Man, on the other hand, saw the Patriot coming through the corner of his left eye and pulled his right hand out of the ground then used his left hand to catch the Patriot's incoming left punch. As such, he fought back by using now free right hand to throw a mean hook.    
  
The Patriot let out an irritated growl after his attack was stopped, and once he saw Iron Man throw middle punch towards his buckle, he returned the favor by using his right hand to catch the Golden Avenger's wrist. Now in a stalemate, both armored fighters interlocked their fingers, and began a text of strength in a bare-knuckle tie-up, each trying to overpower the other.    
  
As Iron Man squeezed with all his might, the tinted lenses roll up, revealing his hazel eyes. "Your smoke and mirrors aren't going to help you this time, Norman!"    
  
"So, you have managed to hack into my file?" replied the Patriot, sounding annoyed but at the same time, not surprised. "Which leads me to assume that you have something to do with Gwen Stacy escaping?" Upon saying that, the Patriot could feel Iron Man's grip loosen, as well as see the shock in Shellhead's eyes. All which made the Thunderbolts' leader smirk behind his faceplate, knowing that he must've 'entered his head.' "Yes, I know. But I'm not worried, I'll have her back soon enough."    
  
Iron Man quickly shook his head to regain focus, refusing to give the Patriot the satisfaction of knowing that he had him nervous and thus went back to squeezing. "Well, if you think I'm going to tell you where she is, you're even crazier than I thought!"    
  
"Oh, I don't need you for that, Stark," the Patriot replied smugly, then leaned back and delivered a hard headbutt into Iron Man's faceplate with enough force to stun him and make him let go of his hands. This also allowed the Thunderbolt to throw and land a right backhand, nailing the Shellhead just above his left eye and sending him straight to the ground. "For I already have help in that department."    
  
Meanwhile, back in Nick Fury's safehouse, Nick, Beast and the rest of the 'Secret Warriors' were watching Iron Man's match via the large computer screen, all invested in the match as well as worried. Also watching was that of Gwen, who looked on in concern for Iron Man as soon as he found himself on the losing end. For while she was glad that Peter was not in any more danger, that didn't mean that she didn't care for his teammates. But as she watched the match, Gwen suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head, almost as if millions of hot needles were piercing through her skull and into her brain, causing her to grab both of her temples.    
  
Beast saw Gwen grabbing her head in pain and was understandably worried for her. "Gwen, are you all right?"    
  
"I-I'm fine, just a headache," Gwen replied, despite this not at all true. This was more than just a simple headache, in fact it put most migraines to shame! But yet, something made her give Beast that answer. Some strange force that was not only causing her pain, but also making her say things she didn't mean, but she didn't know what. And it was that same force that made her ask this seemingly innocent question to the people keeping her safe. "Does this building have a bathroom?"    
  
Nick, while still focused on the screen, was the one who answered the teen girl. "Down the hall, first door to the left."    
  
"Thanks," Gwen said with a grateful smile, but because of his this new painful force in her mind as oppose of her own accord. And after taking the tablets from the furry X-Man's massive hand, she turned and walked out of the room.    
  
As Gwen walked out, Sharon continued to watch the match, growing more worried as she watched Iron Man take a right cross to the faceplate from the aggressive Patriot. "My god, Stark's getting killed out there!"    
  
Nick, however, remained vigilant while also keeping his eye on the screen. "Relax, Carter. To his credit, Stark has been in much worse jams than this, and always came out on top. I'm sure he'll do the same here." After seeing Iron Man take a left uppercut to his chin, the usually reserved Nick narrowed her his brow, secretly worried for the Shellhead. _"He better!"  
  
_ Meanwhile, Gwen herself was now in the bathroom, with her headache now stronger than ever and with pills in her now shaking right hand. And though the pain was immense, it wasn't why her hand was shaking...but rather it seemed to be moving on its own and she was trying to regain control. However, she proved to have no success, as her hand made its way over the sink and dropped the pills to the drain. _"W...What's going on?!"_ asked the suffering as well as fearful Gwen, where she then felt some control of her hands, thus placed them on her head and tightly closed her eyes as she felt the pain grow stronger. _"Why is this...w-why...?"_ As the pain grew stronger and stronger, Gwen began to feel something else that scared her even more. Meaning that she could feel her memories began to fade away. From her father, her friends in Midtown High, and even Peter! To make matters worse, she could also feel emotions, including her own fear, began to disappear as well. Finally, after a few seconds, Gwen felt her thoughts and memories all disappear, causing her to let out a moan as she let her muscles relax and allowed her hands to drop to her sides and dangle limply. She then opened her eyes to reveal that they had changed from a lively blue, to a lifeless pale. She stood there with her mind now nothing but a blank void...and all that remained was that of a calm, male voice.    
  
**_"Gwen?"_ ** asked the voice in a calm, soothing tone. **_"Can you hear me?"  
  
_ ** "...Yes," Gwen replied in a monotone, almost robotic voice.     
  
**_"Splendid,"_ ** said the voice, sounding pleased. **_"And I can see through your eyes that you are in a place that's, well, unkept to say the least. Therefore, you need to go to a place where you'll be much safer. And more importantly...a place where you are needed."  
  
_ ** Hearing this, there was only one answer the now mindless, zombified Gwen could give. "Go...where I'm needed."    
  
Elsewhere, in what appeared to be an old art studio, sitting on the work table was that of...   
  
PHILLIP MASTERS/THE PUPPER MASTER: (a bald Caucasian man who appeared to be in his late forties, early fifties, dressed in a white shirt and blue pants, but wearing an apron and black gloves and holding a small, glowing life-like sculpture of Gwen Stacy, one that was composed of atomic clay which he used to control people's minds.)    
  
Also in the studio was that of a male African American S.H.I.E.L.D. agent holding an iPad-like device that was projecting a holographic image of Gwen Stacy for Phillip to use to model the sculpture from. Moments later, the image changed to that of Maria Hill.    
  
Upon seeing the picture change, Phillip addressed Maria with a wide, tooth-filled smile. "Well Agent Hill, I now have control of the girl's mind as you instructed. Where do you want me to send her?"    
  
Maria, still looking at Phillip with a distasteful expression, nevertheless gave him this next order. "Have her come to this location..."    
  
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, Iron Man was still on the ropes as he leaned back to avoid an incoming left hook from the Patriot. Finally, as he saw his armored opponent go for a right, the Golden Avenger retaliated by holding up his right arm to successfully block the attack, then managed to sneak in a left jab to the Patriot's faceplate and followed up with a fierce right cross which connected to the Patriot's right eye, sending him staggering back a couple of steps. Now back in control, Iron Man went on the offensive by stepping towards the dazed Patriot and threw a left hook of his own.    
  
However, the Patriot managed to spot this, and a split second later, ducked to avoid the punch, then passed underneath Iron Man's left side, ending up behind him. As the Patriot popped up and spun around, he waited for Iron Man to turn and face him, and once he did, the Thunderbolt held up his right fist, where on top of his gauntlet popped out a long barrel, and shot a large flame right into the Golden Avenger's faceplate, causing him to quickly hold his arms up over his head and take two steps backward.    
  
Naturally, for a man in a metal suit, this proved to be more of an annoyance to Iron Man. "Flamethrower? Really?" asked the irritated, as well as unimpressed Shellhead, then felt the intense heat on his arms suddenly stop, which led him to deduced that the Patriot must've given up on his attack, which caused him to lower his arms. However, much to Iron Man's shock, and further frustration, the Patriot himself was now gone and nowhere to be found. "Oh, brilliant."    
  
Up in the air, the Patriot hovered above Iron Man, who by this time was now searching for the Thunderbolts' leader. Moments later, the Patriot made his move by pointing his right hand downward, took aim at the unsuspecting Golden Avenger and shot a small missile out of the top of his right gauntlet.    
  
Luckily for Iron Man, he heard the missile's exhaust up above, an as he looked up, he saw the missile coming his way and seemed disappointed as he used his left hand to easily catch it. "Annnnnd that's just sad."    
  
Up above, the Patriot could only smile behind his faceplate, for catching the missile was exactly what he wanted Iron Man to do. "Oh, yes it is Stark...for you!" replied the confident Thunderbolt as he made his hands into a fist for the people watching the match via the Ref Bot, but in reality, he was using the tip of his left thumb to secretly press a button in his palm. This in turn caused thousands of small nanites to crawl out of the missile and in between the small plates in the fingers of Iron Man's gauntlet and into its circuitry.    
  
Something in which J.A.R.V.I.S. detected. "Sir, I'm beginning to pick up-"    
  
By the time J.A.R.V.I.S. warned Iron Man, however, it was already too late. The nanites all simultaneously began to admit electricity, resulting in the Shellhead getting electrocuted from inside his own armor and causing him to scream in pain.    
  
The Patriot himself grinned upon seeing Iron Man in such agony. Because one, he enjoyed seeing his enemies suffer, and two, he was glad to see that the nanites succeeded in doing their primary job in making the Golden Avenger leave himself open for attack. As such, the Patriot seized the opportunity and flew straight down, landed right in front of the screaming Iron Man and gave him a hard right uppercut to his chin, all the while powering on his jet boots and sending both him and his tormented opponent up into the air. Now airborne, and with Iron Man still in his sights, the Patriot mentally activated the targeting system in his helmet and locked on to the Shellhead's buckle. "Time to end this with a bang!" the Patriot declared, then charged up his star-shaped uni-beam and fired a powerful laser blast out of his chestplate, which ended up making a direct hit on Iron Man's buckle, and in turn, caused yellow energy to completely consume the Armored Avenger's body and freeze him in place as he landed hard on the ground.    
  
This act was seen worldwide, even by those in the Garden, which caused the loyal Thunderbolts fans to cheer, as well as result in shocked silence from the fans who supported the Avengers.    
  
As for the two remaining Avengers, Spidey and Ms. Marvel were just as stunned in seeing their leader being defeated, but it is Ms. Marvel herself who was the most vocal about it. "STARK!" she exclaimed distraught, knowing that Iron Man had just joined her fellow Avengers who were defeated and were now being held prisoner by the enemy.    
  
Spidey himself stood in hushed silence as he looked at the screen to see the frozen Iron Man lying on the ground. _"No!"_ he thought in dismay, then caught a glimpse of the small missile that Iron Man dropped and knew that something that small couldn't possibly do that much damage. This led him to deduce that it must have taken the Shellhead down in a different and underhanded way, in that it shorted out his armor somehow. The Web-Head then spotted the Patriot hovering down to the ground, and thus narrowed his eyes at him in anger. _"Osborn, you cheating scumbag!"  
  
_ Back in Egypt, as the Patriot landed safely and right next to the fallen Iron Man, the Ref Bot routinely hovered right next to the armored Thunderbolt. "And here is your winner...THE IRON PATRIOT!" said the announcer, which resulted in the crowd back in New York to give a reaction mixed with cheers and boos.    
  
As the Patriot looked at the Ref Bot's screen, he gave the Thunderbolts fans a nod of acknowledgement, then turned and looked down at the defeated Iron Man with a smirk behind his faceplate. _"As I said, Stark,"_ he thought. _"I believe I'm more deserving of the title of Superior Iron Man."_ Moments later, his smirk is soon replaced with a disgusted scowl. _"And to think that I once admired you as a business man...until you lost your edge and stopped making weapons. But don't worry, once this tournament is over, I'll be putting this armor, as well as your company's tech, to good use."_   
  
**WINNER: IRON PATRIOT**


	8. Chapter 8

**NOTHING BUT TROUBLE**   
  
Back in the brig of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrior, two agents were walking a handcuffed Tony, who by now was now without his armor and wearing his black jumpsuit, to his holding cell. Along the way, they passed the cell of the still heavily bound Yellowjacket, who the outside appeared to be completely motionless...   
  
_...but inside his own mind, both the Henry Pam and Yellowjacket personalities see the captured Tony, with Hank being more distressed. “No, Tony!” Hank said with despair upon seeing another friend becoming another prisoner.  
  
Yellowjacket, however, only sneered as he som his head. “Not surprised that Stark is here. He’s got all the money and tech at his disposal, but with no clue on how to use any of it.”   
  
This comment  was enough to anger Hank and turn to the arrogant and disrespectful Yellowjacket. “That’s enough!” he snapped. “Sure, he’s the living definition of headstrong, and hasn’t always used his resources wisely in the past, but Tony’s learned from his mistakes and has long since used his technology to save the planet many times! Which means he’s-!”   
  
“Not cut out for this hero gig!” Yellowjacket chimed in while still looking at Tony through the ‘eye window’, then turned to Hank with a bitter look. “Just like you and Jan!”   
  
Hank never cared when others insult him, but upon hearing his Yellowjacket insult the woman he loves, it angered him enough to throw a massive left cross, which connected to Yellowjacket’s jaw and sent him off his feet. Normally, Hank took no pleasure in punching anyone, but in the case of this egotistical personality laying down in front of him, he was willing to make an exception. “Never mention her name again!”   
  
After wiping the blood from the right side of his mouth, Yellowjacket chuckled as he sat up, then responded by throwing a left straight punch into Hank's groin, forcing the scientist to bend forward. Afterwards, Yellowjacket capitalized by throwing a right uppercut which connected to Hank's jaw and sending down hard into a fetal position. As he stood back up, Yellowjacket looked down at the pain ridden Hank with in pure disgust, seeing it as further proof of how weak he truly was. "Oh don't worry, I plan on forgetting Jan forever...right after I convince her to leave the superhero business by beating some sense into her!"   
  
Hank's eyes soon grew as big as softballs upon hearing this. "What?!"   
  
"You heard me!" Yellowjacket back shot back as he rubbed his knuckles. "She thought that pounding the crap out of criminals was just a game. And true, it is fun, but it's obvious she doesn't have the nerve or the brains to cut it. So, when I get out, I'm going to personally show her just how dangerous the life of a superhero can be! Matter of fact, Pym, you should be thanking me. Because you know as well as I do that that little pain in the butt is, and always has been, nothing but trouble."   
  
Upon hearing Yellowjacket's plans regarding the love of his life, a now fuming Hank began to sit up. Though he winced in pain for a moment due to his groin still being sore, he chose not to let the pain stop him as he sat up straight and looked up at his violent alter-ego, giving him an angry glare. "No...it's you! YOU'RE nothing but trouble!"   
  
Yellowjacket had finally heard all he could stand from the 'weakling' that was Hank Pym, and thus held up his right foot and tried to stomp his face in.   
  
However, Hank was quick enough to use both of his hands to catch Yellowjacket's foot, then made his move by turning the foot to the left like a steering wheel, causing his headstrong alter-ego to spin around and land chest first. Moments later, Hank quickly sat back up and attempted to pin Yellowjacket down and force him to submit t his will.   
  
Unfortunately, before Hank could even  get a chance to sit on him, Yellowjacket shrunk himself and flew off the ground, causing Hank to land on his face. Once he ended up above the fallen Pym, Yellowjacket soon enlarged himself into giant form, where he then used his large right hand to grab Hank and picked him up like an action figure. From then on, he soon began to squeeze him hard, hoping to pop his head clean off his shoulders and thus leave him the only personality to inhabit the body. "Face it, Pym!" he said smiling as he saw Hank staring to have trouble breathing. "You had your chance to change the world, but you didn't have the backbone to do what needed to be done! It's time for the scum of the Earth to feel the sting of the Yellowjacket!"   
  
As Hank felt himself being crushed by Yellowjacket's grip, he soon started to fade. As he shook his head in a vain attempt to stay conscious, he caught a glimpse of one of the eye windows and saw something that brought him out of his daze.   
  
It was that of the Wasp, in full human size and sitting in her cell, angry at herself for how she lost her match earlier.   
  
The sight of his former partner being incarcerated was enough to enlarge Hank, and enough to light a fire within himself. "No....NOOOOOO!!!!" At that moment, with all of his willpower, Hank soon started to grow into enormous size, breaking free from Yellowjacket's grip. And if that wasn't enough, Hank's clothes as change, from the lab coat...to his Giant-Man costume, which naturally surprised Yellowjacket and giving Hank an opening to give Yellowjacket himself a mean left hook, followed by a right. "This is my body! My life!" Hank exclaimed as he threw another left cross, only for Yellowjacket to hold up his left arm to block it, then attempted to counter attack by throwing a right hook of his own. Fortunately for Hank though, not only does he use his right arm to successfully block the punch, but he also fought back by using both of his hands to grab Yellowjacket's entire right arm and deliver a judo shoulder throw, slamming Yellowjacket on his back which caused a loud, almost thunderous thud. After throwing him, the still standing Hank looked down at the fallen Yellowjacket, who by this time was starting to shrink. "And I will not let you steal both just so you can hurt the people I care about."   
  
As Yellowjacket returned to human size, he tried to sit back up to attack again. Suddenly, however, he soon saw his body slowly fading away, caused the once arrogant, self-proclaimed hero to look on in fear. "W-What's happening?!"   
  
Hank looked down at the fading Yellowjacket as he began to shrink down as well. "Well, psychiatry isn't my strong suit, but I think that you fading away is a result of you disappearing from my psyche after I regained the spiritual strength needed to retake my body and mind."   
  
"Pym, wait a minute!" Yellowjacket pleaded, his voice starting to break. "Maybe you and I can share this body, we can work together! Seeing that Hank wasn't truly convinced, Yellowjacket shook his head to try and tried to put on a 'tough guy' image so he could make his case. "I mean, think about it! Do you really think that YOU can truly do what needs to be done to criminals! We both know that you can't! The world needs people like me! YOU NEED ME!"   
  
"Not the way I see it!" Hank replied sharply after finally returning to human size and watching Yellowjacket's image become more and more transparent. "I may not like violence, but I can still help protect the world in other ways. One of them being to make sure that you don't use my body, or my inventions, to harm anyone ever again!"   
  
Moments later, Yellowjacket's feet soon vanished completely, followed by his legs and lower body. "No!" he cried, his arrogant demeanor now gone and instead replaced by pure fright. "Hank, please! Don't let this happen!"   
  
Though Hank actually felt pit for this dark representation of himself, he knew that this was for the best, for everyone he loved and cared about, as well as the entire world. As such, he only had these words to say to the defeated alter-ego disappearing in front of him. "Goodbye, Yellowjacket."   
  
"NOOOOOO!!!!!!" Yellowjacket bellowed, and within moments, the rest of his body, from his torso, arms, and finally his head, all disappear. And thus, the arrogant, violent personality that had controlled Hank Pym's body was finally no more.   
  
Now back in control, Hank let out a sigh of relief, then suddenly, his surroundings glow bright and everything goes blank...  
  
_ ...Moments later, Hank opened his eyes and saw that he was now inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison cell, indicating that he was now back in his body, albeit still in the Yellowjacket costume. Sadly, he also found himself bound and unable to move, and what was worse, unable to change his size. Therefore, he had no choice but to sit there and wait for an opportunity to escape to present itself. As he looked around, Hank once again caught a glimpse of the angry and depressed Wasp in a cell nearby. _"I'm so sorry for what Yellowjacket put you through, Jan, and how I wasn't strong enough to stop him the first time,"_ he thought in remorse. _"But I promise, I'll make things up to you and get you out of this...somehow."_   



	9. Chapter 9

**SEMI-FINALS  
  
** Back in Madison Square Garden, the giant screen changed to the tournament brackets, with the announcer turned to the cheering crowd. "All right folks, we are approaching the climatic end of the tournament with the Semi-Finals!" Upon saying that, the announcer caused the crowd to let out a loud roar. "And in our next match-ups, we have..."    
  
MATCH 1: SPIDER-MAN VS. THE SCARLET SPIDER    
  
And    
  
MATCH 2: MS. MARVEL VS. THE IRON PATRIOT    
  
Needless to say, this line up of fights word the crowd into a frenzy. And upon seeing the audience riled up, the announcer continued. "And now, let's get things underway with a battle between both teams' respected Web-Slingers, Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider! Gentlemen, if you would please come to the teleportation pads."    
  
In the Avengers corner, Spidey let's out a reluctant sigh as he looked at the angry and vengeful Scarlet Spider, the symbiote influenced version of his best friend.    
  
Before the Wall-Crawler could make it to the pads, however, he is stopped when Ms. Marvel placed her hand on his shoulder. "Hey kid," she told him as gently as she could, knowing that she's been harsh on him during this whole ordeal. Once Spidey turned to face her, she changed her serious expression to a somewhat more softer one. "Look, I know that Harry's your friend, and that you want to save him. But right now, he's somebody that you need to stop for everyone's sake, including his! Get me?"    
  
A discouraged Spidey gave Ms. Marvel a small nod in response. "Yeah, yeah, I now," he said sadly, then turned and proceeded to walk to the teleportation pads.    
  
Meanwhile, the Scarlet Spider eagerly popped knuckles, smiling behind his mask as he could get his long awaited chance to make Spidey, the one he felt caused all the pain and suffering in his life, pay dearly for nearly taking away his father. Before heading off, the Scarlet Spider took a moment to turn and face the Iron Patriot. "I won't let you down, Dad."    
  
The Patriot, with his arms still crossed, looked at the Scarlet Spider, with his faceplate masking a stern look. "I should hope not."    
  
Though the Scarlet Spider was intimidated by the Patriot's reply, he nevertheless gave his armored father a nod and proceeded to the pads.    
  
As he watched his son walk off, the Patriot silently thought this to himself. _"But given the fact that you've been having trouble with self-control...I'm starting to doubt your chances of succeeding Harry."_ The Patriot then set his sights on Spidey as he stepped on the teleportation pads, and behind his faceplate, raised an intrigued eyebrow. _"And perhaps I should be considering my future heir be the ORIGINAL Web-Head."_   
  
Once both 'Spiders' were on the pads, they soon vanished out of sight and to their unknown destination. And thus the audience, whether they be in the Garden, or watching at home, eagerly await the match-up between two young men who were once the best of friends, but were now bitter enemies.    
  
****

**END OF BOOK FOUR**  

**SPIDER-MAN AND THE AVENGERS WILL RETURN IN THE SEMI-FINALS**


End file.
